Spotted Seal Gallery

Tigers and Leopard Frolicking, 1700s. Creator: Unknown

Tigers and Leopard Frolicking, 1700s. This monochrome composition depicts a tiger and her young playing at stalking one another in a stand of pine. Tigers, considered messengers of mountain spirits in Korean shamanism, were a common subject of folk painting in the later Joseon dynasty. Leopards were mistakenly thought to be baby tigers, which explains why the cat peering around the tree trunk at its mother is spotted. The title, signature, and seals at the upper left of the painting may have been added at a later date. The signature, "by the mountain recluse of Honam," may refer to a painter from former Jeolla province

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Spotted seals swim in a partly frozen lake at Dongpaotai Park in Yantai, Shandong province January 10, 2010. Temperatures will plummet by approximately 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Farenheit) in the north with rain will falling in the south as a strong cold wave sweeps across the country, the national weather forecaster said, as reported by China Daily. Picture taken January 10, 2010. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: ANIMALS ENVIRONMENT) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA